Water Duty

Elodie was woken up by the bright morning sun shining through the porthole that was normally covered up. Zokkik had the small window covered the whole time she had been in the infirmary so the light wouldn't strain her eyes or make her head injury worse. She stretched while letting out a small groan and then sat up. Zokkik smiled and said, "Good morning, sleepyhead." Elodie stretched again and replied groggily, "Good morning, Zokk-." A yawn interrupted her sentence and Zokkik chuckled at her.

Once she was a little more awake, Zokkik motioned to a bowl on his desk and said, "I got you some breakfast before it was all gone." Elodie thanked him softly before sitting down in the extra seat that had been brought into the room and started eating. After a couple of bites from the almost cold soup, Elodie looked up at the porthole, "You finally uncovered it." Zokkik looked up from his paper and nodded, "Yep. Your head injury has finished healing, so I took the curtain off." She smiled and said, "The room looks better now." He nodded in agreement with a hum and then went back to his papers.

Elodie finished her breakfast and set the bowl down on Zokkik's desk. She watched him work and asked, "What are you doing?" He looked up at her and teased, "Why do you want to know?" She scrunched up her nose and said cheekily, "I'm nosey." He chuckled and answered, "We'll be reaching our destination soon, so I'm writing down everything I have and what I need so we can get it from the closest town." Elodie nodded and asked, "How soon are we going to be there?" He teased yet again, "You're full of questions today, aren't you? Maybe you really are a spy." She rolled her eyes at him and he answered her, "We're making a stop this afternoon and we are going to spend the night there. We'll continue our voyage tomorrow and we should reach our destination in about a week." She smiled widely at him, "Thank you, kind sir." It was now his time to roll his eyes at her.

Elodie started to help Zokkik take inventory and the two talk about random things as they did so. Once they were finally done, Zokkik said in a nonchalant voice, "Did you forget about your job?" Elodie's eyes widen, "I completely forgot! What time is it?" Zokkik answered her question, "It's a little bit after mid-morning." She frowned at herself, "It's my first day on the job and I'm late." Zokkik laughed softly and stood from his chair, grabbing Elodie's arm gently, and started to lead her out of the room, "It's ok, Elodie. I think everyone will understand." She nodded and let him lead her out of the room and onto the deck.

Hakoda was correct about the heatwave. It was a lot hotter than it was the day before, and subsequently, most of the men were shirtless. When they saw that Elodie was out and about, they looked around at each other with questioning glances, trying to figure out if they should put their shirts back on or not. Elodie stifled a giggle and smiled at them softly, silently telling them that it was ok. The poor men were sweating and obviously burning up from the intense heat, so she understood why they wanted to be topless. And, she definitely wasn't complaining about the view.

Zokkik took her to where the coolest water was, which was the kitchen. He said while motioning to the barrel full of water, "Here's your work station." Elodie went over to it and started to fill the thin, clay cups up with water. Zokkik reached out to help her, but she playfully pushed his hand away, "I got this Zokkik. This is supposed to be my job." He chuckled and pat her head, "Ok. I'll let you do it then. If you feel strained or over-heated at any moment, come straight back to my room. Ok?" Elodie nodded and waved him off, "I will. Don't worry about me." He shook his head softly and went back to his room after telling the female goodbye.

As Elodie filled up the cups with water, her mind was filled with confusing thoughts. Elodie had always been independent and mature. Throughout her entire life, she never had anyone to lean or rely on. She only had herself. So, Zokkik's affection and parental personality were making her feel all weird inside. It felt somewhat nice that there was someone caring for her, but at the same time, it was making her feel vulnerable and weak. She shook off her perplexing thoughts when she had filled up all of the cups.

Elodie put the maximum number of cups on a tray as she could and headed out onto the deck, making sure that none of the water spilled. She started to pass out the cups of water to the crew members while smiling and trying to make small talk with them. Most of them were nice, but reserved. She passed out all the waters she had, so she went back to the kitchen to refill her tray with water cups.

Elodie went back onto the wooden deck and headed over to a small group of the youngest men in the crew. She asked them cheerfully, "Do y'all need water?" They all nodded and grabbed cups off of the tray, drinking from them. One of the men looked at her, "Your name is Elodie, right?" She nodded and he said, "That's a really strange name." One of the other men elbowed him and gave him a look. He looked alarmed and said quickly, "I mean- I like it though!" Elodie laughed softly and reassured him, "I guess it's kind of weird. What are y'alls names?" The man who said her name was weird answered, "I'm Konoye!" The one that elbowed Konoye said, "I'm Petak." Elodie grinned at them, "It's nice to meet y'all."

The three actually ended up talking for a good while. Konoye was pretty goofy and easy-going while Petak was quieter, yet still funny. After talking for a good thirty minutes with the boys, Elodie felt a presence behind her. She looked up from her seat on a barrel and smiled when she saw Hakoda looking down at her. She waved at him, "Hello." He answered in his deep voice, "Hello Elodie. Are you distracting my crew members?"

She grinned, "I can't help it chief. I'm naturally distracting."

He broke into a smile before looking at Konoye and Petak, and Konoye said, "We should probably go back to work." Hakoda nodded, "Probably."

They waved goodbye to Elodie and she waved back, then they went back to their work stations. Elodie turned around on the barrel, so she was facing Hakoda, "Need water?" He shook his head no, "I'm fine. I'm actually here to ask you something." She tilted her head slightly and he said, "Some of the men are worried that them being... unclothed will bother you." She smiled gently, "I'm ok with it. I know it's hot, and I don't want them to be burning up from the heat because of me." He nodded, "I will reassure them that it is ok."

Hakoda went to leave, but Elodie stopped him, "Hey, Hakoda." He stopped walking and looked at her, "Yes?" She asked, "Are there any old clothes that I can have?" He thought before nodding, "I believe so. Let me go ask someone to get them." She said cheerfully, "Thank you!" He smiled at her for a bit before walking off again.

Elodie went to the kitchen to put the tray back and clean up her mess. When she was done, she went back onto the deck and was met by someone who she remembered as Malaq. He was holding an armful of blue fabric and he held it out, "This is the extra set of clothes that we have." Elodie smiled at him and took the clothes, "Thank you, Malaq." He seemed a bit shocked that she remembered his name. He smiled a little at her, "You're welcome."

Zokkik walked up beside her and said hello to Malaq before looking at Elodie, "You've been outside in the heat long enough Elodie. Come back to the room." She smiled softly, "I'm fine Zokkik. I don't need to go to the room." He gave her a look that made her feel like she was a little girl again that was fixing to get in trouble. She clenched her jaw and stomped back to the room. She didn't know why that made her so mad, but it did.

She sat on her bed and made the old clothes Malaq brought her into summer-friendly clothes. Zokkik didn't bother her for a couple of hours, so she could cool off. When he did speak to her, it was to tell her that they were fixing to be at their destination.

She was ready to be off the ship for a little while.

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